From what I understand, they were included at one point, but have been taken out in recent editions. Its such a shame. For the most part, national groups do a pretty decent job of maintaining thier histories, but not all the locals do such a good job.

It only takes a couple of people viewing a Geocities page, before they shut it off for bandwith limits. Try again in a hour or so, and the service should be restored.

PhiNuBlue, I'm going to add your site to my locals page :) I had your info up, but no website link, so I'm glad you built one.

Hi everybody,

Just like was previously said that pretty much ever sorority was the first at something, possibly Phi Nu was the first female literary society to use greek letters, but that does not change the fact that Kappa Alpha Theta was the first Greek Letter Fraternity for Women, unless, of course, Phi Nu became a Fraternity prior to 1870...which I doubt since they are currently listed as a sorority and not a fraternity on the MacMurry College website.

But, if they were truly the first greek letter fraternity for women, I suggest they bring this up to Kappa Alpha Theta headquarters or NPC and get the record set straight.

Even in Theta's history, they never claim to be the first female society, just to be the first greek letter fraternity for women....

From KappaAlphaTheta.org:

"To be sure, there were societies for women before 1867, and some of these had secret rituals with badges, passwords, mottoes, and other symbols. But in 1870, Theta became the first women's Greek-letter fraternity because its primary founder, Bettie Locke, wanted full membership in a male fraternity. When the men asked her to wear their fraternity badge as a "mascot," she responded, "If you won't initiate me into your fraternity, I'll start my own." Thus, Kappa Alpha Theta was established on January 27, 1870. In 1995, Kappa Alpha Theta celebrated its 125th anniversary."

Without meaning to stir a hornets nest, what is the difference between a fraternity (composed of only women) and a society (composed of only women)?

Marie

good questions..
 

...and I may be wrong, but aren't Kappa Alpha Order and Kappa Alpha Society both fraternities? If that is true(and I am guessing) then it wouldn't matter if Phi Nu Theta was a "society" or a "sorority" would it? This is a great thread! I'd never heard of Phi Nu, but congrats on 150 years of sisterhood. How wonderful for you! We'd love to know more. Colors, mottos, badges, founders, upload a copy of your crest if permissible. Very interesting indeed.:)

Here's what I found in the dictionary
 

SOCIETY:

The totality of social relationships among humans.
A group of humans broadly distinguished from other groups by mutual interests, participation in characteristic relationships, shared institutions, and a common culture.
The institutions and culture of a distinct self-perpetuating group.
An organization or association of persons engaged in a common profession, activity, or interest: a folklore society; a society of bird watchers.
The rich, privileged, and fashionable social class.
The socially dominant members of a community.
Companionship; company: enjoys the society of friends and family members.
Biology. A colony or community of organisms, usually of the same species: an insect society.

And SORORITY
A chiefly social organization of women students at a college or university, usually designated by Greek letters.
An association or a society of women.

And FRATERNITY
A body of people associated for a common purpose or interest, such as a guild.
A group of people joined by similar backgrounds, occupations, interests, or tastes: the fraternity of bird watchers.
A chiefly social organization of men students at a college or university, usually designated by Greek letters.
Roman Catholic Church. A sodality.
The quality or condition of being brothers; brotherliness.



....so they are all socieities as far I can tell. The issue then, it seems, is the PURPOSE for which they were founded. Even Theta appears to have an academic bent to their founding (as does DG bec if you read through the original minute book you'll find them discussing essays and famous people in history). So I suppose it is a matter of when they became not focused only on literature and on more social matters. All quite muddy it appears. I'm afraid I'm inclined to let Theta and Phi Nu duke it out. I'm not qualified as I'm not an executive member of either!

OK--so to clarify the record.

Alpha Delta Pi = first female secret literary society, 1851
Phi Mu = second female secret literary society, 1852
Pi Beta Phi = first national women's fraternity, 1867
Kappa Alpha Theta = first national Greek-letter women's fraternity, 1870
Gamma Phi Beta = first national women's sorority, 1874

Note that these are all NPC firsts. It may well be that

Phi Nu = first female Greek-letter literary society, 1853

but it does not claim to be national. Therefore, Theta is still the first national Greek-letter women's fraternity.

In sum:
Alpha Delta Pi, 1851
Phi Mu, 1852
Pi Beta Phi, 1867
Kappa Alpha Theta, 1870 (January 27)
Kappa Kappa Gamma, 1870 (October 13)
Alpha Phi, 1872
Delta Gamma, 1873
Sigma Kappa, 1874 (November 9)
Gamma Phi Beta, 1874 (November 11)
Alpha Chi Omega, 1885
Delta Delta Delta, 1888
Alpha Xi Delta, 1893
Chi Omega, 1895
Alpha Omicron Pi, 1897 (January 2)
Kappa Delta, 1897 (October 23)
Sigma Sigma Sigma, 1898 (April 20)
Zeta Tau Alpha, 1898 (October 15)
Alpha Sigma Tau, 1899
Alpha Sigma Alpha, 1901
Delta Zeta, 1902
Alpha Gamma Delta, 1904
Alpha Epsilon Phi, 1909
Theta Phi Alpha, 1912
Phi Sigma Sigma, 1913
Delta Phi Epsilon, 1917 (March 17)
Sigma Delta Tau, 1917 (March 25)

Many secret organizations of the time were formed as literary societies, as a way for students to escape the stranglehold the university faculty had on them, especially on what they could read. In days of old many private colleges (this was well before the public land-grant state colleges) were religious in nature

The word 'sorority' was not coined until 1882, when Professor Frank Smalley of Syracuse University mentioned it to the founding members of Gamma Phi Beta.

I am just curious and going by the dates posted by breathesgelatin but if Sigma Kappa was formed 2 days before Gamma Phi Beta wouldn't that make Sigma Kappa Sorority the first national women's sorority?

We've actually gone over this several other times...SK was formed before us, but we were the first to use the word sorority, as it was COINED for us. Y'all changed your name to sorority later, after it became more widespread.

Hi Marie

My understanding of the difference is this:

A society is a group of people brought together by a common interest, this could be an honor society, a literary society, a local historical society, etc.

A fraternity is a specific type of society. One based on fraternal/brotherly ties (or in our case, sisterly, however there was no word for that at the time). Theta was considered a Fraternity because it was founded based on Bettie Locke Hamilton's vision of an organization for women based on friendship, sharing of ideal, and loyalty, much like the men's fraternities found on campus. Therefore, the purpose of Theta was always 'fraternal' ties.

I'm not saying that Phi Nu didn't have the same purpose...I know nothing more of their history than what has been posted here. However, from the post that stated that they were founded as a literary society, it is my understanding that it was not originally founded as a fraternal organization....I'm sure that later on it evolved into a sorority, and I can't say if this happend before or after Theta was founded, that's something for NPC to look into, not for me to judge.

So, basically, the difference in my eyes is that while I may be close and friendly with the people in my book club or honor society, I wouldn't consider them my sisters.

Which are which?
 

I read some where that there are only 6 sororities and the rest are womens' fraternities. ANyone know which are which? I think I know the following:

Phi Mu=fraternity
Chi Omega=fraternity

Gamma Phi Beta=sorority
Delta Zeta=sorority
Alpha Delta Pi=sorority


I have looked at the national websites of some, but they don't really say if they are officially a fraternity or sorority.

Pi Beta Phi is a fraternity for women.

Alpha Phi is a women's Fraternity.

I *think* Alpha Xi Delta was originally founded as a sorority, but then it was changed to a women's fraternity. I know it's a fraternity now.